A COLNE toy firm is celebrating after winning a six-year legal battle with building block giants LEGO.

Best-Lock (Europe) Ltd, based at Holker Business Centre, Burnley Road, Colne, can now sell its toy building block sets in Germany after a Hamburg court ruled it did not breach LEGO's intellectual property rights.

Today Ali Bayazbayrak, director of Best Lock, said the decision, which cannot be appealed, will allow the company to double its turnover and increase its share of the German toy brick market, worth around £143million.

He said: "On behalf of the toy industry we tenaciously took this initiative in 1998 to have a fair and competitive opportunity to sell our products in Germany.

"Lego has been a less than friendly player in the toy market."

Best-Lock's building brick sets, which include military vehicles and pirate ships, are very similar to those of LEGO.

LEGO had brought legal action because Best-Lock's building bricks are compatible with its own and the company claimed it had breached its intellectual property rights.

But after hearing evidence from Best-Lock's legal team, the court ruled that a patent over a building brick, on which the case hinged, had expired because it was over 40 years old.

The brick had originally been patented by English child psychologist Harry Fisher Page in 1947, who later sold the patent to LEGO.

The trademark has now been cancelled at the European Trademark office in Spain and the German Trademark Office in Munich.

LEGO said it intends to appeal against the trademark cancellation but Best-Lock's German lawyer Dr Peter Kreye said they stood "little chance" of having the decision reversed.

Dirk Engehausen, LEGO's central European vice-president, said: "We shall continue through the courts to defend our rights and the company's goodwill and to prevent the sale of imitations which can mislead consumers."

Under conditions of the ruling Best-Lock has agreed to carry labelling on its products advising consumers its bricks should not be confused with those of other companies, including LEGO.

Best-Lock was founded in Colne in 1997 by Mr Bayazbayrak and his colleague after they were stopped by LEGO from marketing their products in their native Germany.

As well as its Colne head office, which employs 13, Best-Lock has offices in the United States, Canada and Asia employing around 450.

The company's manufacturing is done in the Far East.

Best-Lock is the third of the three big players in the toy brick market behind Mega Bloks, of Canada and LEGO.

But the German court's ruling will allow Best-Lock, whose toys are less than half the price of LEGO's, to gain a bigger share of a market worth $1.8billion worldwide.

Best-Lock sells its products in 36 countries and in the UK its clients include Asda, which retail its military and farm building brick sets.